American judges, traditionally tougher than their UK benchmates, view loss of liberty as a punitive measure rather than an opportunity for rehabilitation. Those convicted of multiple offences are more likely to receive consecutive rather than concurrent terms. Mocking the guilty's limited lifespan may be the precise purpose of judicial overkill. Judge Denny Chin, who ordered that Madoff be incarcerated until the 22nd century, explained later that his intention had been to send a symbolic message. The financier's conduct had been "so egregious", Chin said, and therefore he should do everything he "possibly could to punish him".

One US state's enthusiasm for consecutive sentences is currently being challenged in court. A Vermont sex offender is arguing that prosecutors exploit the prospect of lengthy sentences to scare defendants into pleading guilty.

Fixed "determinate" sentences and the "three strikes and out" rule operated in California have significantly extended the average length of US prison terms.Impossibly elongated prison terms certainly grab the headlines. Sholam Weiss was given 845 years for fraud and money-laundering by a Florida court in 2000.Jeffrey Dahmer, the Wisconsin cannibal, was handed 957 years for killing 17 people. Like many others, he didn't live long enough to serve his full term: he was beaten to death by another inmate two-and-a-half years into what was supposed to have been nearly a millennium behind bars.